


Anodyne

by Holmium (karintheswede)



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Multi, Post-Apocalypse, Stealth Crossover, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 07:29:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19436773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karintheswede/pseuds/Holmium
Summary: After the end, a group of survivors travel in search of what they've lost.This is not a happy fic. Major trigger warning for suicide.





	Anodyne

Before, things were a lot more straightforward. Now, it's all post-apocalyptic and fucked up.   
Before, Ginny was one of the most talkative people Hermione had ever met. Now, she hasn't said a word since they left Transylvania three weeks ago.  
Before, Harry had jet-black hair and smiling green eyes. Now his hair is white and his eyes are dead. 

Before, Neville was the bravest person she knew. That hasn't changed. The driving was his idea, she remembers that. She doesn't remember where they got the car or how Harry managed to save his money from the pillaging and panic that happened when the last pitiful wards around Diagon Alley crumbled and everything was over. She doesn't know who found her, alive in the rubble of what was once hers and – But that was Before. She doesn't think of Before much, now. She's not sure how long they've been travelling. Those first few weeks? _months_ were spent in a daze. She's only absolutely certain that it's been three weeks since Transylvania, because that's when she realised that magic was gone. 

Ginny drove. They were on their way to the old dragon-enclosures, the ones where Charlie worked before the war. Somehow, Ginny knew exactly where the dragons roosted. They left the car at the end of a narrow road and walked towards the dragons' valley. As they came closer they all knew something was wrong. Neville, with his uncanny connection to all things living put his finger on it first. There were no birds. No small animals rustling in the undergrowth. Just an eerie stillness. As they drew nearer their unease grew. 

They entered the valley silently, reverently. It was just as beautiful as Charlie'd said in his letters. Hermione had vivid memories of the Common Room and the look on –. But that was Before. They didn't think of that. They'd only gone in a few steps, when Neville, leading the way, recoiled in horror. He tried to stop them from seeing, but couldn't. 

Ginny hasn't spoken since. Harry. Well, Harry wants to shoulder the blame, as usual, trying to make it up to them. Hermione doesn't know what to do, and Neville tries accepting that things have changed. 

From Transylvania they went to Russia, and then across the Baltic and south again. They are in Rome now, about a second from breaking. Wherever they've gone, they've searched for magic. Any kind of magic. Neville believes they should return north. There might have been a magic village near Pompeii, much like the way Hogsmeade was magic, Before. He remembers it from when he and – And then he stops. They all know what he means, though. Hermione thinks they ought to go overseas, to see if anything has survived. Perhaps there, being so far away and so different, magic is still alive.   
"... anyway, we can't traipse around Europe looking for witches and wizards forever. We've been nearly everywhere, I think. We need to go further abroad. Magic is gone, at least from here. We can't find it if we keep looking in the wrong places."

They share a room, to save money. They eat in the cheapest restaurants they can find, and spend their days staring at the blurring European landscape. Ginny writes frantically in her ratty old diary, and Hermione marvels that it's not jam-packed by now. A week after Rome (she thinks they're in Spain) and Harry finally makes a decision. They're selling the car and going to the Americas. He's already bought the tickets when he tells them. She immediately beings to make plans. Ginny doesn't look up from her diary.

* * *

Cheap motel rooms look the same everywhere, she thinks. There's a mysterious stain on the wall next to the boys' bed. It looks a little like a plant and Trelawney would doubtlessly have interpreted it to mean a gruesome death. But then Trelawney interpreted everything to mean a gruesome death. She points the stain out to Neville and tells him her theories. He barks a quick laugh, and then looks at her, accusingly. She shrugs and hugs him, quickly, before she leaves for the bathroom. 

Harry's there, but he hasn't locked the door, so she just goes right in, stripping her clothes along the way. Startling green eyes and a shock of white hair, and he's hard for someone in the shower. She kneels and takes him in her mouth until he comes. When he's done she shoulders him away from the spray and washes her hair. Harry leaves. She turns the water off and stands in the bathroom air drying for a couple of minutes. 

Neville is watching Harry and Ginny when she returns to their room. They're kissing, very chastely; Ginny on Harry's lap in the ugly motel room lounge chair. Her brain tells her it's pretty but she's too numb to appreciate it. 

Too numb and too young to drink. They've travelled across most of the continent and found nothing. In Europe at least there were traces of magic. There's nothing but charlatans and cheap parlour tricks here.

* * *

She still knows how to make potions. She finds a shop in a small town and gets ingredients. The proprietor looks oddly at her when she asks for some of the more dangerous poisons, but says nothing more than:  
"Thank you for shopping at the Magic Box," and smiles at her. 

They are silent, that last night, taking what comfort they can from each other. There's not much of that left, either, but the slide of skin against skin, frantic movement and harsh panting. As they all drink the potion she has made, their eyes lock. They join hands as they slip painlessly into dreamless sleep. 

Before is there to welcome them. She runs into Ron's arms, laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on a now defunct livejournal in January 2005.
> 
> If you are feeling lost, or alone, or unimportant, and thinking of killing yourself, please know that you are loved, that you are not alone, and that you are important. Please, please also contact a resource centre near you, link below. 
> 
> https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/


End file.
